"Polar bear Jerka passed awayon Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 20 years old Jerka died at Wuppertal Zoo after a short period of illness. The autopsy couldn't yet determine the cause of her death.Lars, the male polar bear who was ill too, is on his way of recovery."

Zoo Wuppertal issued this message last Monday on their website, sad news which confirmed the fears of visitors who had found already for some days the polar bear enclosure deserted, the pool without water.

The sudden death of Jerka and the seriousness of Lars' disease came as a shock, the grief about Jerka was mixed with fears for Lars due to the mystery of what had caused the disease in the first place and for which no comparable cases could be found so far in other zoos. As to the symptoms the zoo mentioned epileptic seizures starting appr. 2 weeks before Jerka's death and that the liver of the two bears was involved. Lars had to be given transfusions, he couldn't eat, move or react for two days.Auf der privat betriebenen website der Freunde des Wuppertaler Zoos war zu lesen, dass Lars sich am Tag des aufgenommenen Fotos (19.06.) im Innengehege aufhielt . In der Zwischenzeit hat Lars sich soweit erholt, dass er seit dem 25.Juni wieder zu sehen ist, allerdings etwas abgeschirmt im Mutter-Kind Bereich des Geheges.On the private zoo website, run by friends of Zoo Wuppertal, Lars was mentioned as being kept in the interior part of the enclosure.In the meantime, Lars got better, since 25 June he is on display again, but kept in the smaller mother-cub area of the enclosure which allows him to have some rest.Jerkas Tod hat nicht nur Trauer ausgelöst, für die angeblichen Tierschützer bei PETA kam er genau rechtzeitig für eine erneute Kampagne gegen Eisbärenhaltung in Zoos, selbstverständlich wird der Zoo Wuppertal beschuldigt den Tod verschuldet zu haben durch nicht-artgerechte Eisbärenhaltung. Und wie immer, wenn PETA auftaucht, wird ein sofortiger Stop der Eisbärenhaltung in Wuppertal (und überall) gefordert.-

Jerka's death has not only caused grief and mourning, it seemed to have come in handy for a new campaign of PETA against the zoo representants, who were blamed immediately for the tragedy because of inappropriate conditions, as usual demanding a stop for keeping polar bears in Wuppertal (and everywhere)... -

When Jerka was 2 years and 4 months old, she came from Nuremberg to Wuppertal. She was born on 23.11. 1989, her parents were Centa II and Nordpol.Centa II, born on 30.10.1967 in Bremerhaven, came to Nuremberg on 01.07. 1971, she died at age 29 on 25.06.1996. Her mother was the legendary Suse II, who gave birth in Bremerhaven, where she came to in 1954, to 17 cubs of which 15 were raised. The first cub was born in 1958, the last cubs in 1973.Hier ein Foto von Jerkas Oma Suse und den jüngeren Zwillingsgeschwistern ihrer Mutter Centa II aus dem Jahre 1973, leider habe ich weder ein Foto von Centa II noch von Jerkas Vater Nordpol gefunden, der am 16.02.1979 aus München nach Nürnberg kam, geboren wurde er am 27.11.1975 in Rostock, sein Vater Olaf war ebenfalls eine Legende und auch der Vater von Knuts Oma Lisa, was ihn übrigens zum Onkel 2.Grads von Lars macht. Nordpol starb am 27.01.1999.

Here a photo of Jerka's grand-mother Suse II with the younger twin siblings of her mother which was taken in 1973. Unfortunately I couldn't find neither a photo of Jerka's mother Centa II, nor of her father Nordpol, who came from Munich to Nuremberg on 16.02.1979. Nordpol was born on 27.11.1975 in Rostock, his father Olaf, another legend, was father of Knut's grand-mother Lisa too, what makes him Lars' uncle .Über die ersten Jahre Jerkas in Wuppertal findet sich nicht viel, bis letztes Jahr war sie die 2. und wesentlich jüngere Frau von Boris, eine Beziehung, die ohne Nachwuchs blieb.-

About the first years of Jerka in Wuppertal not much is to be found, until last year she was the second and much younger wife of Boris, a relation without offspring.

Boris died on 9 September, he was close to 32 years, and already on 23 October Lars, the father of Knut, was moved from Berlin to Wuppertal, much as a surprise to every one who has visited and followed his life in Berlin as gentle cock in an extraordinarily well functioning and harmonious harem comprising of the 3 ladies Tosca (Knut's mom), Katjuscha and Nancy.

The sceptical attitude of the beginning faded when it got evident that against all odds Lars adjusted well and fast, he was not only enjoying himself but also Jerka who vice versa was enjoying his company too, similar to the zoo staff who were following with pleasure every single step of that developing polar bear relation.

Above a photo taken by Jens during his visit of the bears at the end of May in Wuppertal, and a funny video showing Jerka making fun of Lars by hiding from him. Just shortly before the sad news went public, Jens had posted his detailed report about Jerka and Lars of 21 May, watching the video, most of Jens' blog visitors certainly didn't know that Jerka was already dead by then.

Traurige Grüße aus Wuppertalzoo-wuppertal.net"We too are sad about the death of polar bear Jerka . She had an intimate and loving interaction with polar bear BORIS. However, she was a bit quiet with BORIS .

With LARS polar bear Jerka could be seen alive, she was literally flourishing. After some initial distance while getting to know each other, there were wonderful encounters between Jerka and LARS . The two polar bears liked each other .

Initially, Jerka was somewhat bitchy, especially when it came to food, but the good-natured LARS delighted the visitors of the Zoo Wuppertal by his gentle and loving handling of Jerka . Visitors will surely never forget how they were playing together in the water.

We are sad and hope that LARS will recover fully, and that then everything can be sorted out without haste what will be the best for LARS' future life.

All zoo employees loved Jerka as they love LARS , and are striving honestly to find out the causes for the death of Jerka and the disease of LARS .

Let's hope together that LARS gets healthy soon and that then a solution will be found, which is in the best interest of Lars.

More photos about Lars and Jerka's first period together you will find on the private site of Zoo Wuppertal, recent photos of Lars alone can be accessed here.There are also a lot more photos to discover in the different forums as Knutitis or World of Animals, posted by friends who visited Lars and Jerka frequently. I want to thank everybody for sharing them!

"Polar bear husbandry has a long tradition at Zoo Wuppertal. The origins of the polar bears at Hubertusallee dates back to 1911. Already in 1931 the first polar bear cub was born in Wuppertal. The last one in 1995.

The area of the polar bear is considered by many animal lovers as relatively small for the polar giants. In fact the enclosure had been renewed and enlarged in 1991. Keeping polar bears in zoos has always caused discussions - most recently in Nuremberg, where polar bear babies were not adequately cared for by their mothers.

The polar bear enclosure of the year 1991 provides even more space than the current minimum requirements. The small additional enclosure is not even necessary, but is used in Wuppertal to separate the polar bears when necessary or to provide rest rooms for the bears.In total, the polar bears in Wuppertal have about 500 square meters for themselves, water outlet included. That is less than the brand new Zoom Experience in Gelsenkirchen, where there are 1700 square meters.According to Schürer, the polar bear enclosure at the Hubertusallee meets all conditions, which is why Wuppertal forms also part of the European breeding program. And successfully. Polar bears bred in Wuppertal can be found today as well in the United States and Japan. "Successful breeding is the key indication of whether the animals are kept adequately," says Schürer."http://www.wz-newsline.de/?redid=865853

I can't but join the earlier comments. You made such a loving summery of everything you could get about JERKA. Thank you so much you took your time to collect everything and to put it so icely together. Your thoughts are always most appreciated in addition!

Hopefully you don't mind I did put the link to your LOVING MEMORY TO JERKA into the "KNUIPE" of Mervi's "knutitours" so that more of JERLA's, LARS' and of course your friends have the chance to see and read it.

Who wants to lay hands on the original K-files, all coming in the typical outpost outfit pdf and usually including photos found within the Aussendienstnetz, just click on the file covers, download starts after filling in the 3 letter code.Attention: please click the FREE download option and not Premium as this will cost you then. We apologize for any inconvenience, unfortuantely we can't stop the ads!